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TOP 5: What to watch for in SOTU

What does Congress want to hear?

The libertarian-leaning Republican then alluded to the controversy over the drone strike Obama ordered against Anwar al-Awlaki.

“We cannot and will not allow any president to act as if he were a king,” Paul said. “We will not tolerate secret lists of American citizens who can be killed without trial.”

Rubio and Paul are both likely to run for president in 2016, but they played to very different bases Tuesday. Paul delivered a wide-ranging speech aimed at activists, chock full of criticism for both parties. Rubio was more cautious, and he focused on persuading disillusioned voters that the GOP cares about the middle class.

None of the cable networks actually aired Paul’s 14-minute speech, though, which he delivered at the National Press Club and the Tea Party Express broadcast online.

Paul focused the lion’s share of his comments on advocating for major cuts in federal spending — including on defense — to balance the budget. He pushed to go much further than the automatic spending cuts that many Republicans (including Rubio and Mitt Romney) have decried as draconian.

“Not only should the sequester stand; many pundits say the sequester really needs to be at least $4 trillion to avoid another downgrade of America’s credit rating,” he said. “Few people understand that the sequester doesn’t even cut any spending. It just slows the rate of growth. Even with the sequester, government will grow over $7 trillion over the next decade. Only in Washington could an increase of $7 trillion in spending over a decade be called a cut.”